Sliding-door fixture



Dec. 14 1926.

A. L. HANSEN SLIDING DOOR FIXTURE Filed .nm 10. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 1'Zedaf 2.

A. L. HANSEN SLIDING DOORFIXTURE Filed Jung 10. 1925 2 SheetS- -She'et 2Patented Dec, 14, 19 26 .7 iQJgg E V V v AUGIE r.'ntensnn, on'omcaeo;rumors, ASSIGNOR To afrlfinnnsnn MFG. comnary conditions of vehicleoperation.

.is disclosed in the accompanying drawings,

PANY, on cnlcneo, rumors,

eooaronArron or ILLI OIS.

' SL'IDING#DOOR FIXTURE.

7 Application filed. June This. invention relates to improvements insliding door fixture s, andmore particularly to fixturesforsupportingthe sliding door of vehicle cabs or enclosures. .The objectof theinvention is'to' provide a pratical, inexpensive-and whollydependableroller o'rha'nger equipmentv for" sliding doors and characterized bysuch features as. simplicity of construction, ease of attachment, withcomplete-elimination ofrattling. or displacement of the door under theordi- A preferred embodiment of the'i'nvention inwhich. V Flgurel 1s aView in s de elevation of an.

- ordinary vehicle cab havingaslidingdoor of the sliding door;

equipped with the improved fixtures; -Fi'gure 2 is a perspective view ofa door hanger such as would beapplied at the top Figure .3 is a hangeradapted to be at.- tached at the bottom of-the sliding door; V Figure .4isfla perspective view of' a re taming roller which cooperates witheither the top or bottom hangers shown in F igures 2- and3; f ".1 i..Figure 5 1.is. an enlarged detail view. in

vertical section taken on line 55 Iof Figure 1, and'showing. a typicalhanger installation where the-door is; hung .from its top edge by meansof hangers such-as disclosed in Figure 6 is an enlarged-view inelevationof the lower sectlon'ofa sliding door showof the door; and

ing thehangers mountedatthe lower edge F igure7 is. an enlargeddetailview'in vertioali-section similar to'Figure 5, showing-the doorsupported at; its loweredge byjhangers. ofythe type shown in FigureFigure 1 represents a typical cab or enclosure 1, for-the driverscompartment of; i a commercial motor vehicle, constructed. in accordancewith the standard practice of body makers. 'On; each side of .thecab isa doorway provided withthe usual type of;

panelled sliding doorv 2, mounted exterior of- "..the cab and slidingbackwardly and forwardly' to open and .close theidoorway; Along thefront 'edgefof the dooris provided a lock 3 of any' suitable type.Figures 5"and 6 ;disclose the :essential details-of the] @cab hic-tsetse? i re esented by e.

1925; "Serial No; 36,076."

member 14, and ,the doorway by a trans: verse frame member 5,. extendingacrossthe top of the doorway and vertical side frame membersGex'tendingdown to the floor T v top of the doorway,'or it may besupported by hangers'attachedto the bottom. edge-of; the door andengaging'a track extending along the "cab at the floor level. Eithermethod of hanging the door may be employed, the choice being ordinarilyleft to 1 the body manufacturer; .although either method is equallysatisfactory. For this reason both. methods' have been illustratedanddescribed; Thus, Figure liandFigure .5 disclose the method of suspendingthe 'doorfrom hangers along its top' edge and:

' Figure 6 shows the use'of the hangers along the. lower edge.

Referring now to thexdisclosures of Figber consists of! a track-plate 8extending horizontally above the doorway and screwed t res I, 2; and 5the door supporting memor otherwise attached flat-wise to the exteriorshort distance from the main portion of the track plate. Y Fastened tothe upper edge of the door2, are. hangers Q,,preferably two in numberan'dlocated near the front and.

rear ends of the door, asshownin Figure l. hanger- 9, of the kind shownin Figure,

2,:c'omprisesa frame-member of sheetinetal shaped to fornla base wjebQ?and an inverted V I r U-shaped roller 1 support 9 offset laterallyfromthe planeyof the baseweb byfa short 1n'-- termediate transverseweht)". A hard steel rollerll is mounted within the-roller support 9andhas short axles 11 which engage two corresponding bearingslots' 10,formed. in thektwo verticalwebs of the roller. sup

'port,'; and extending horizontallyf thereof Thus the rollerisfifree toroll lengthwise of the hanger and :to rotate on its axles, -f

A'szclear'ly shown, in Figure 5 'the hangers. r are: applied" to; thedoor 2,- w th; the; base; web 9 -flatwise against the outer facefof' thedoor. with its}. upperifedge fitt ng an a a of the cab. The lower edgeof thetrack.

Shoulder termed bythe-sholtt aa ers mb and locatedcentrally above' thetop edge ot- 9 ,'with roller support 9 oifset inwardly the door.; Thehanger; thus being attached,

preferably by bolts 12 which pass through the door franie andbolt holes13 in the base fiangefl of thehanger, is hung on a track 1 8 with theupturned track flange 8 engaging the rollers 11 and the'inner or freeweb of the roller support 9? extending between the track-plate and theupturned track flange 8 sheetfnietal housing or hood 14s, whic-lnExtending alongthe track plate is a serves to protect the track? andhangers against weather conditionsand also tocon ceal the-fixture. I v iA's-clearly shown in Figure'b, the lower edgeof'the door extends a shortdistance below the floor 7 and to the bottom edge otsaid do'or areattached a pair oif fr'etain ing rollers l5,-v there being; preferablytwo otf these-retain'ing rollers used in" anordinary' Y installation andpreferably" arranged as shown in Figure 1. Figure shows the completeassenclbly of one otijthese retaining" -1-o11ers';- which comprises astrip 15*, of re si'l'ient metal such as spring steel, having mounted atone enda journal block 1 5 at one end of which a grooved'disk or'roller151" is j'ournalled. As-clearly shown in Figure 1, th'e'strips arefastened end'to end near the c'en-ter of the door-frame and extendlengthwise thereof in opposite directions so" thatythe rollers 15 aredisposed just in wardly fr'omeac'h end-of the door. More' overyasclearlyshown in Figure=5,the rollers 15 are ofiset inwardly from the door andclear the lower edge thereof by a distance of a quarter of an inch orso;

Fastened along the edge ofthefloor 7 is a'longit'udinal plate or strip16' having itstop and bottom edges-extending a short distance above andbelow the floor 7. The lower edge of the plate 16 forms" a down wardlyfacing track along which ride the retaining rollers 15; Along the lower"edge of the-,door-I"ran1e is preferably; attached a plate 17 with itslower portion projecting downwardly below the retaining rollersandthusservingto conceal them from view-and to; protectitheml fromllljuly';

1t is'mani'fest that, in orders to place the, retain Y with the loweredge of the plate 16, itis necessary to, springthe strips 15ein adownlgLIOH6TS "15 l11tO rolling contact ward-direction; thus placingthemunder tenslongnwhlehj acts in a vertical'direction to iold thevrolles 11 more firmly'on their I revent rattling, asi'wellas y te" lenc'y forthe "rollers to juniprthe track in case 7 of an ,unusually violentshocki- V or; jar"; for instance when the, vehicle is moving over apart1cula'rlyrough pavement;

' 1 may; b h

alrea 'xTplained',i the tap? hangers Qdi'. ntirely and bottoin 7 used.

stituted for them. Figure 6 shows an in stallation-inv which theabottomhangers are In this case, the upper edge of the door slides in a simpleform of rabbet 18, extending alongxthe top of the door-frame.

in place of the track'pla-te 8 and the housing 14.

The construction at the lower edge of the 7 the innen face; thereof,each. being; located near the front. and rear; end' of the doorsubstantially: the same; correspondingpositions asiwere thetop: hangersin the' pre viously' described arrangement; The bottom door hangers are"somewhatv different in design from the top changers, as clearly revealedin; comparing Figures and 3,

although in general construction and design they are essentially thesame. Thus a bottomdoor hanger isconstructed of sheet metal shaped toform; a main Vertical web 19% l1aV1ng1ts upper portion bent at rightangles and thence downwardly to form a parallel web l9 terminatingsubstantially midway between the upper and lower edges I of themainvertical web- 19 andforming therewith the downwardly'opening U-sh'aped,

roller support having the same arrangement of lengthwise extendingparallel slots 20' and supporting a grooved roller 21', having axles 21"which rideLin the slots 20, as before.

Along the lower edge of themai'n web 19 is a short transverse flange l9-forined by" bending the lower" edge portion of said web at ughtanglesfin the same dlrection asthe upper portion is bent to fornitheinverted U -shaped roller support.

As clearly shown in Figure 6, each bottom hanger 19 is screwed orotherwise fastened to the inner face of the door and 'nearits loweredge-and: in such a way that the lower' flange 19"projects inwardlyjustbelow thelower edge ofthe door and} in suchposition Just clears'theunder sidefof the fioortrack' roller} engaging'the top edge: thereof. a

plate 16. Similarly, the U shapedroller support" at'the upper-end of thehanger ex;- 7 tendsah'ove the 'tra'ck' plate 116' with theInithisarrangement the; door is supported 7 on the lower trackplatesbu-totherwiseit slides 111 the. same-ginanner as; heretofore-(lee;

scribed" in wnne'cti'ojn with. thet'op hanger;

Likewisethe.retaining:rollers l5 ob-operate i with the bottom hangers'in .the,.-esanie-way-to prevent rattling;orfdisplaeement' era's deer;It is to be: noted: alsoxthat .-'the:z-lower 9 flangesltl'prevent'the;hangers tronrbeingidi'splaced I from'the track plate 16 bypositively limiting the vertical displacement of the door with respecttothe track.

Having set forth the preferred embodie ment of the invention and thestructural and operative advantages thereof, I claim as my" invention: 7

l. The comblnatlon an inverted U-shaped roller support post tioned abovethe track, and a roller j ournaled in said support and engaging the topedge of said track, and a retaining roller mounted at the lower edge ofthe door and adapted for yielding rolling contact with a downwardlyfacing surface adjacent-said lower edge of the door. i I

2; The combination with a sliding door of a supporting track, arhangercomprising a roller engaging said track, a track plateextendinghorizontally adjacent the lower one end "to the lower edge ofsaid door,"and

a roller journaled at the free end otsaid -armand engaging the loweredge of said track plate: v e V l 3. The combination ofja sliding door,a

vertically disposedtrack. plate extending edgelof said door, a resilient.arln fixed at V horizontally adjacent one edge of said door, I hangersattached to said door and comprise" ing rollers engaging the upper edgeof said track .7 plate, a track plate-extending horizontally adjacentthe lower end of said track plate, and retaining rollers attached to thelower edge of said door and comprising resilient arms extending inopposite direc-' tions in the plane of the door and having at the endsof said arms rollers offset from edge ofs'aidlower track plate. Signedat 1925.

-40 the plane of the door to engage the lower Chicago, 111., this5 aJae,

AUGIE tyniasm.

